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Monday, December 19, 2016

12 Days of Christmas // Christmas Book Recommendations + a Giveaway

Happy Monday morning everyone! Typically, I don't like Monday mornings because it means saying goodbye to the weekend, but I'm not minding it too much right now. Why? Because no school (oh right. Except for that ASL quiz I taking as soon as I'm done here XD), it's almost Christmas, and this linkup! I have something super fun on towards the bottom of this post...but don't scroll ahead! I've got some other stuff to mention first. ;)

Namely...Angela! Angela Watts @ The Peculiar Messenger will be joining us in 12 Days of Christmas from here on out! We had some miscommunication and a technical glitch, but she's with us now. So check out her post in the lineup! :D

Also... Today is day six!! We're halfway through! 6 days until Christmas and 13 days until 2017. Like, whaaaa??

Today I have some Christmas book recommendations for you all! Who doesn't want more books to read? *winks* I'll give the cover and summary of each book, followed by my brief opinion of it. :)

A Christmas Peril // Diane Moody

Lucy Alexander's Teacup Novellas were inspired by a collection of vintage teacups her Aunt Lucille bequeathed to her. She's excited about writing the next book in the series, a Christmas tale loosely based on her aunt and uncle's love story set in the 1940s. But when a hostage situation lands Lucy's boyfriend in the hospital, she sets her work aside to keep a bedside vigil with Mark. As the long hours of waiting stretch on, Lucy starts to read her beloved aunt's handwritten diary. Shocked to discover a frightening story so eerily similar to the one she's living, Lucy longs to find hope and encouragement in the pages of Lucille's diary.

December 1944 - "The most wonderful things seem to happen when you least expect them," writes Lucille Alexander after a serendipitous meeting with Gary Reynolds, a handsome lieutenant home on leave from the war in Europe. The two are inseparable in the five precious days he has left before heading back overseas just weeks before Christmas. On their last morning together, Lucille accompanies Gary to the train station, already dreading the long separation ahead. But that would be the least of her worries after her brave lieutenant rushes to help an elderly woman in distress.

Lucy finds a strange solace in her namesake's ink-stained journal. Though seventy years have passed between them, would their stories have the same ending?

(Woah. That's quite the summary. XD) *happy sigh* I just love this book. I came across it last year, read it, loved it. And I've read it again this Christmas season and enjoyed it just as much. You know those stories where you just feel like you're there? That's this book for me. Mrs. Moody's writing style is so fresh and amazing. I look forward to reading more of her work. :)

Beyond the Horizon // Jesseca Wheaton

Eliana longs to see the world beyond the mountains that tower above Salzburg, Austria, but knows that dream will never see such adventure- and neither will she.

Surrounded by a world of cruelty, she lives for the weekly visits of Aron, a boy she met on one of her rambles through the countryside.

But as the years pass and she begins to grow older, a new and unwelcome world is opened up to her.

On a fateful night at a party she vowed she’d never attend, she comes face to face with a shocking truth.

As the world around her teeters on the brink of war, Eliana struggles to figure out just where her loyalty lies; a decision that will drastically change the course of her life. Will she ever be free to see what lies beyond the horizon?

If you've been here for the previous days of this linkup, then you know that this book just released a few days ago. I had the pleasure of beta-reading/critiquing and I absolutely LOVE this book. Very Christmasy and just beautiful!! <3 Click here for my full review.

The Lopsided Christmas Cake // Wanda Brunstetter & Jean Brunstetter

Join the Hochstetler twin sisters on stage as they bumble their way through baking a cake for a charity auction in front of a live audience. The take-charge Elma and the klutzy optimist Thelma manage to entertain their audience—and attract the admiration of two bachelors, an outspoken woodworker and a shy harness maker from a neighboring Amish community. As fall leads into the Christmas season, could romance be blossoming for one or more of the Hochstetler twins? Find out in this brand new romance from New York Times bestselling author Wanda E. Brunstetter, writing with her daughter-in-law Jean Brunstetter.

I recently read this book with a friend *wink* and it was a great little book!! Not too long, not too deep, but a cute, sweet Christmas story. :) I enjoyed it a lot!

Where Treetops Glisten // Cara Putman, Sarah Sundin, & Tricia Goyer

The crunch of newly fallen snow, the weight of wartime

Three siblings forging new paths and finding love in three stories, filled with the wonder of Christmas

Turn back the clock to a different time, listen to Bing Crosby sing of sleigh bells in the snow, as the realities of America’s involvement in the Second World War change the lives of the Turner family in Lafayette, Indiana.

In White Christmas by Cara Putman, Abigail Turner is holding down the Home Front as a college student and a part-time employee at a one-of-a-kind candy shop. Loss of a beau to the war has Abigail skittish about romantic entanglements—until a hard-working young man with a serious problem needs her help.

Abigail’s brother Pete is a fighter pilot hero returned from the European Theatre in Sarah Sundin’s I’ll Be Home for Christmas, trying to recapture the hope and peace his time at war has eroded. But when he encounters a precocious little girl in need of Pete’s friendship, can he convince her widowed mother that he’s no longer the bully she once knew?

In Tricia Goyer’s Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, Meredith Turner, “Merry” to those who know her best, is using her skills as a combat nurse on the frontline in the Netherlands. Halfway around the world from home, Merry never expects to face her deepest betrayal head on, but that’s precisely what God has in mind to redeem her broken heart.

The Turner family believes in God’s providence during such a tumultuous time. Can they absorb the miracle of Christ’s birth and God’s plan for a future?

Awww, I just loved this compilation of WWII Christmas stories!! They were all absolutely amazing, but White Christmas was probably my favorite. I read this book last year and want to read it again soon!! :D

At the Christmas Lodge // Rebekah A. Morris

When Desirae Richey agrees to go home with some college friends for Christmas, she expects a small family gathering. Instead she is taken to the Christmas Lodge in the snowy mountains of Canada to a noisy, fun loving, adventurous group of family and friends who welcome her as one of their own. Everything seems to be going as planned until an unexpected snowfall occurs.

Born in the midst of the hardships of The Great Depression, Rose grew up in Berlin, Ohio, in the arms of a loving Amish family. But as she prepares to marry, she's thrown into confusion when she learns the truth of her birth. She was born Englisch and abandoned when the family moved on in search of work. Was she meant to be Amish or would she have been better off growing up with her own kind---Englischers? And was her intended's gift of discovering her birth family given out of love or fear?

Ahhhh, I loved this book!!! :D The story of Rose's quest to find her birth family once she learned she was adopted was really well written. Curtis and Joseph were probably my favorite characters. :)

Giveaway...

That's right, people! A giveaway of MercyMe's It's Christmas CD!! :) But...there is a catch. I can only ship to addresses in the US. :( I know we have several out-of-country friends among us, and I'm terribly sorry about that! (But hey, maybe you could enter anyway if you have friend in the US and I'll ship it to them! XD haha!)

Oh, since you don’t have school, does that mean that you are on Christmas break? :) I just can’t believe that Christmas is in 6 days! Wow! I didn’t even think about 2017 being in 13 days!!I love Christmas book recommendations! :D I’ve read “A Christmas Peril”, “Beyond the Horizon”, and“The Lopsided Christmas Cake” *wink*. I really want to read “A Christmas Gift for Rose”. :D It sounds really good. Hopefully I’ll start that one this week. “Where Treetops Glisten” is still waiting for me to read it. I’m hopefully going to be reading it today. :)

Hehe, I guess so! I don't have ASL again until the first week of January, so we probably won't have other school until then too. :) I know!! So exciting!! :D Eeps!So do I!! :D Hehe, *winks back* Those are all so good!! :) I hope you enjoy "Where Treetops Glisten" and "A Christmas Gift for Rose" -- both very sweet! <3 Okay, looking forward to hearing from you! :)

All these books look so good! And *gasp* I haven't read any of them :( Gonna have to add them to my to-read list! :D

Ooohhh....MercyMe! Sooo...this is really bad...but I haven't heard any of their songs, but quite a few of my friends have told me about them ;) Oh, and I entered the giveaway cause I have a US address you can ship to in case ;) I was thinking maybe if I won, I could come by your house this summer when we go to Landry Camp...then I'd have an excuse to come over :P But anywayyy.....

I don't know yet! I literally *just* checked the gradebook before coming on here to reply to comments, but it was still blank. :P Maybe because it's break and Mr. D is on break too? I don't know. XD Did you get your grade yet? (But otherwise, yes, it went well. I was done in 27 minutes even with those videos things at the end ;P)

*gasp* What are you waiting for?! *wink* Haha, yes do!

Whaaa?? That's possible?! You MUST look up their songs!! All their Christmas stuff is amazing, but their other songs are wonderful too. You Are I Am, Greater, I Can Only Imagine, Dear Younger Me, etc, etc,.... *shoves you towards YouTube* Listen to them all!! XD Oh my goodness, that's a great idea!!! :D Yes!! *rigs Rafflecopter so Blessing will win*

Thanks for more books to be read! :D I've only read "Where Tree Tops Glisten" but as you know, I loved it. XDAnd thanks for the giveaway - so sweet of you! Favourite MercyMe song? I'm going to have to be embarresing and say I don't know them well enough. I mean, I've heard and enjoyed their music, but I don't know titles... :P

About Me.

Saved by God's grace, I'm a teenage writer and homeschooled PK, living with my family and beloved yellow labs in the southeastern US. When I'm not writing stories, consuming large amounts of coffee, reading stacks of books, or creating wheel-thrown pottery, I can be found laughing harder than is healthy, daydreaming, and – of course – blowing dandelions.